Sensors for Water Interest Group

SWIG news – e-newsletter No 25

SWIG autumn newsletter

Welcome to the autumn newsletter for SWIG members! After another successful Sensing in Water conference we are now looking ahead to the workshops planned for the coming year.

We have some great discounts for SWIG members – read on for another bumper pack of offers available exclusively to SWIG members.

We had good feedback from the Sensing in Water conference just a few weeks ago, and have already pencilled in dates for SiW 2019 on 25 and 26 September 2019 – so save those dates! Our attendees this year said:

“Thank you to you and your team for organising such a great conference. It was a very useful 2 days to see what is happening in industry with many innovation leads to follow up”

“a great opportunity to forge links between academia and industry”

“Well organised event with a friendly and collegiate atmosphere”

“Good variety of speakers.”

“I very much enjoyed the event”

“I really enjoyed my time at the conference and made many new contacts and met some old friends too. My talk has generated interest not only at the time but several people have contacted me since too.”

“Good mix of papers.”

“Good mix of technical people”

As announced at SiW 2017, it is time to say a big thank you to Dene Marshallsay and Joby Boxall who are stepping down from the SWIG Board after many years of support. We welcome Andy Nichols of Sheffield University (a previous winner of the SWIG Early Career Researcher Competition) to the Board, with further announcements soon.

Looking ahead to late 2017 and the first half of 2018 we have a broad programme of events, with something for everyone. Please see below for our forward programme of events from Nov 2017 to July 2018 (events into autumn 2018 will be announced in the new year.) The next SWIG AGM will be held during the lunch break of the Water & Health workshop on 31 January 2018, and any members are welcome to attend.

If you are interested in presenting at any of these events, or hosting/sponsoring an event please drop me a line. We are always interested in hearing expressions of interest to present, or topics you would like us to cover in future.

The below newsletter includes the following items of interest:

Write ups from SiW conference sessions

The next SWIG event: Innovation brokerage workshop

Call for papers for Sensors for water and wastewater maintenance workshop on 18 April 2018 – deadline 30 November 2017

If you like what you hear in this e-newsletter – please spread the word about SWIG by using the Tweet & Like buttons at the bottom of this email. If you have any colleagues or clients who would like to hear about SWIG they can sign up to our mailing list from the bottom right corner of the SWIG website.

If you are proud of being a member of SWIG and would like to shout about this useful networking and knowledge sharing group, we can provide the SWIG logo for you to include on your website with a link to the SWIG website. Just get in touch with me to ask for the logo.

We hope you find this newsletter a useful read. See you at a workshop soon!

We would like to acknowledge our sponsors: Vega, ATi and Metasphere and also say a big thanks to our media partners: Water Briefing, WSJ, WWT and AquaEnviro.

Next SWIG event

22 Nov 2017: Innovation brokerage workshop,

Kindly hosted by the Water Innovation & Research Centre, University of Bath

Chaired by: Leo Carswell, WRc Plc

Location: University of Bath

Overview: There is a wealth of new technology and innovation being developed in UK universities which often translates into the development of new products in industry. Successful translation and exploitation of academic research depends on recognising potential and forming necessary collaborations. This SWIG Innovation workshop is designed to bring together academic research groups and interested companies to identify potential technologies, collaboration, and exploitation opportunities in the area of sensor technologies developed for use in water.

The need for new sensor technologies for water is often driven by legislation and the need for regular measurements at lower concentrations, or the need for more rapid or more reliable measurements made at remote sensing sites. This encompasses a wide range of technologies that are used for measuring physical, chemical or biological parameters in or of water. For examples sensors that measure water pressure, height or chemical and biosensors for measuring dissolved components, pollutants or microorganisms. How remote sensors and sensor networks communicate reliably and securely, energy harvesting and data management are other important technology areas that form part of a modern water sensing system..

Cost: £89.00 inc VAT for SWIG members. £161 inc VAT for non-members. £20 for students. Literature may be distributed for a fee of £67 and a limited number of table top displays are available at £128 each.

Call for papers: Latest developments in Sensors, 8 March 2018

Physical and chemical sensors are at the heart of virtually all measurement systems. Amongst the most popular for water monitoring applications are temperature, conductivity, turbidity, colour and pH. During the past decades, they have become smaller, more rugged and stable, leading to better reliable systems. Also during this time, significant advances have been made in the measurement of species such as trace metals, nitrate, nitrite, ammonia, and E. coli, using electrochemical and optical techniques. This workshop will highlight developments and improvements to sensors and sensing technologies, with emphasis on, but not exclusively, these latter, chemical, materials. It will discuss how information supplied from reliable sensors is vital for the development of big data analytics and creates the options for novel applications and alternative measurements. The overall goal will be to provide information to allow water companies to make better measurements in the future.

A joint event with the Electroanalytical Sensing Systems Group (EASSG) of the Royal Society of Chemistry.

We are interested in presentations on sensor developments and uses related to this workshop.

Please submit a title and short abstract (<100 words) to rosa.richards@swig.org.uk by 30 November.

Call for papers: Sensors for water & wastewater maintenance, 18 April 2018

Process instrumentation is becoming more critical as water and waste water companies drive for automation, efficiency and control in a highly regulated sector. The introduction of innovative new process solutions, advances in process control and the realisation of big data analytics places more importance on the quality of data from instruments. A move towards remote decision making in today’s connected environment means we need ensure confidence in data.

For many analytical instruments the OPEX costs associated with keeping sensors operational far outweigh the purchase price over the sensor life. End users are now making decisions based on the whole life cost (TOTEX) of sensor systems taking frequency of visits, chemical consumption and general maintainability of sensors rather than the purchase price.

The event will break focus on three areas:

Instrument design – Designing for reliability, availability and maintainability Service models – How the supply chain can add value

End users – How can we ensure trust in dataEnter your description

Kindly sponsored by Servitech & Z Tech

Venue: Museum of Science & Industry, Manchester

Call for papers: We are interested in speakers from water companies and other sensor users; technology providers, researcher and developers as well as service providers.

Please submit a title and short abstract (<100 words) to Rosa Richards by 30 November at rosa.richards@swig.org.uk

SWIG Forward Workshop programme

27-28 September 2017: Sensing in Water conference & exhibition, Nottingham please see above for details of the conference.

22 Nov 2017: Innovation brokerage workshop, kindly hosted by the Water Innovation & Research Centre, University of Bath

31 Jan 2018: Water & Health, a joint workshop with the RSC Water Science Forum kindly hosted by IBST, UWE

7 Mar 2018: Latest developments in water sensors, a joint workshop with the RSC EASSG, kindly sponsored by CamLab at Clare College, Cambridge

For offers of presentations for the 2017/2018 programme please contact rosa.richards@swig.org.uk

Also if you would like to suggest a topic for a future workshop or host a future SWIG workshop please contact Rosa.

Can water quality sensors deliver value?

An opinion piece by Mike Strahand, of ATi, one of our new Directors, can be found on the SWIG website

Discounts for SWIG members

20-21 Nov 2017: Biosolids & Organic Resources, Leeds

Now in its third decade, ‘The Biosolids & Organic Resources conference’ gives an essential annual update on: legislatory changes, new technologies, best practice and site-experiences with existing technologies and an insight into relevant research in the science and engineering encompassing biosolids and organic resources production and use.

SWIG members are entitled to a discount of 10%, simply use the code SWIG10 on registering for the event. website

7 Dec 2017: Water Scotland, Glasgow

The Water Scotland conference is now in its 6th year and it is the only event that brings together the whole sector to share leading and strategic expertise specific to Scotland. This is the only conference and networking dinner that brings together the whole sector to share leading case studies and strategic expertise specific to Scotland.

SWIG member discount: members are entitled to a 15% discount simply use the code FW15 when registering to attend website

30 Jan 2018: Wastewater 2018, Birmingham

The WWT Wastewater 2018 Conference & Exhibition is the UK’s largest wastewater event with three distinct conferences and a shared innovation zone running in parallel. It is a comprehensive, single-day showcase of case studies and thought-leadership designed to tackle all major wastewater challenges in one place.

SWIG member discount: members are entitled to a 15% discount simply use the code SWIG15 when registering to attend website

22 Feb 2018: Water Northern Ireland

Now in its 9th year, this is the only event that brings all the major stakeholders together to work collaboratively and address the current pressures facing the sector.

SWIG member discount: members are entitled to a 15% discount; simply quote promo code SWIG15 when registering online

13-14 Mar 2018: Global Leakage Summit, London

How do we ensure that our water networks are efficient – and at the same time build in resilience and sustainability?

The Global Leakage Summit returns for its 9th year in March 2018 to help answer this question and feature the most innovative and successful examples of delivering and maintaining reduced leakage levels across the world.

SWIG Member discount: SWIG members are entitled to a 15% discount. To qualify simply enter the code: GLS18SWIG on registration

20 Mar 2018: Smart Water Networks, Birmingham

The only dedicated event for senior water and wastewater professionals improving decision making through smart technologies and data solutions. Topics to be addressed include: strategies to transform smart culture, optimising assets through real-time data analysis & communications, and assessing the future of AI in the water sector.

SWIG member discount: members are entitled to a 15% discount simply use the code SWIG15 when registering to attend

Solve IT: Leakage Innovation Challenge for Severn Trent Water

Can you help reduce leakage through improved asset intelligence?

Severn Trent are a £1.8 billion revenue business and are looking to invest in new tools and solutions that improve leakage measurement models and offer new ways to tackle the problem of trunk main and secondary distribution leakage with products, technologies – both existing and pre-market.

As part of the Coventry & Warwickshire Business Festival in November, we are opening up this challenge to companies and experts who may bring fresh thinking, new ideas and technology to the table. Our ‘innovation sprint’ will focus on exploring better methods for defining and measuring leakage. Severn Trent are also keen to explore ways to reduce leaks and bursts through improved trunk main and secondary distribution asset intelligence.

Senior management from Severn Trent are participating and it’s a great way to meet and collaborate, and present business cases for solution investment.

Running over a few days from Monday 27th November in Coventry, the initiative is free to attend and you can participate flexibly and in different ways. There are opportunities to exhibit and present. To register click here or contact peter@addstrategy.co.uk to find out more see the website

Funding opportunity

Innovate UK: Emerging & Enabling round 3 funding competition

Innovate UK will invest up to £25 million in innovation projects that inspire new products and services.

The aim of this competition is to help UK businesses broaden their innovation activities, disrupt existing markets and find new revenue sources.

Projects must show significant innovation in one of our priority areas, which are:

Rushlight Awards 2017-18

The Rushlight Awards are an established event recognizing the cleantech stars and sustainability champions of today. They are the only independent set of awards designed specifically to support and promote all the latest clean technologies, innovations, programmes, installations and initiatives for businesses and other organisations throughout UK, Ireland and internationally.

There are 25 separate categories covering water, waste and resources, sustainable manufacturing and services and environmental measurement and management amongst other topics. There is a category for any technology, innovation, programme or initiative that reduces the environmental footprint of energy, transport, industry and everyday life.

The Rushlight Awards are open to all types of organisation at any stage of corporate development, including individual inventors, early stage companies, charities, universities, SMEs, quoted companies and multi-nationals.

These awards can be used:

to have your technological achievements recognised by a leading independent judging panel

to open your business to new market opportunities

to celebrate and thank the team who have developed a technology, installation or solution

to launch a new initiative

to raise your profile to access new sources of funding and other support

Innovate UK are looking to extend the pool of their assessors. This short poll gives you the opportunity to self-assess your knowledge/expertise/skills across the spectrum of areas covered by Electronics, Sensors & Photonics (ESP).

The H2020 programme inSSIght aims to support and complement R&I activities in the Smart Systems Integration (SSI) sector by promoting industrial co-operation and facilitating end-user adoption for the next generations of miniaturised smart objects and systems.

Smart Systems are self-sufficient intelligent systems or subsystems with advanced functionality, enabled by underlying micro- nano- bio-systems and other components. They are highly reliable autonomous systems, often miniaturised, sometimes networked, that are able to sense, diagnose, describe, qualify and manage a given situation.

Smart Systems contain intelligence (a Knowledge Base) that helps differentiate them from systems which, although they may be automated, remain purely reactive.